Bitcoin drops below $30,000 for first time since July 2021

Bitcoin extended its losses as it fell below $30,000 for the first time since July 2021, putting its decline from a November record high at more than 55 per cent amid a global flight from riskier investments.

The world’s largest digital token fell by as much as 3.1 per cent to $29,992 in Asian trading. Ether fell as much as 3.7 per cent while Solana dropped 8.2 per cent and Avalanche dipped 10.4 per cent.

“We are seeing a slow-motion meltdown, partially because it is mostly been long holders selling” instead of levered liquidations, said Josh Lim, head of derivatives at New York-based broker Genesis Global Trading.

“Now that some corporate treasuries are hovering near their cost basis, markets are waiting and watching to see if shareholders will force some de-risking.”

The decline in cryptocurrency prices comes as tightening monetary policy to combat runaway inflation curbs liquidity, turning investors away from speculative assets across global markets.

Michael Novogratz, the billionaire cryptocurrency investor who leads Galaxy Digital Holdings, said he expects things to become worse before they improve.

“Crypto probably trades correlated to the Nasdaq until we hit a new equilibrium,” Mr Novogratz said on Galaxy’s first-quarter earnings call on Monday.

“My instinct is there is some more damage to be done, and that will trade in a very choppy, volatile and difficult market for at least the next few quarters before people are getting some sense that we are at an equilibrium.”

Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, which powers the Terra blockchain, is moving to shore up its algorithmic stablecoin after the cryptocurrency lost its peg to the dollar amid the market rout.

Luna Foundation Guard, the association created to support the decentralised token and Terra blockchain, said it will issue loans worth about $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and TerraUSD to strengthen TerraUSD’s peg after it dropped below a $1 on Saturday as cryptocurrency markets continued to decline.

Mr Kwon captured the attention of the cryptocurrency world earlier this year by pledging to buy as much as $10bn in Bitcoin to prop up Terra.

“We are watching carefully to see how the market fares over the next 24 hours,” said Steven Goulden, a senior research analyst at digital asset market maker Cumberland DRW.

This will include an assessment of whether mechanisms being introduced to "increase reliance, such as LFG lending out Bitcoin to OTC [over-the-counter] trading companies, will be enough to hold in times of deep stress or if we need additional stabilisation mechanisms”, he said.

The token’s decline puts it at risk of firmly dropping out of the range where it has been trading in 2022, completely reversing the most recent bull run that drove the token to a record of about $69,000 in November.

Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history

Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)

Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.

Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)

A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.

Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)

Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.

Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)

Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.